NIBSS spends N150 million monthly on power to keep Nigeria’s payments running

Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems (NIBSS) spends at least N150 million monthly on power to keep its operations running, with diesel accounting for about N100 million of the expenditure.

The Managing Director of NIBSS, Premier Oiwoh, disclosed this in his remarks at the one-year anniversary of Tango Brook Technologies in Lagos last week.

The expenditure, he said, is necessary to ensure that NIBSS’ systems and servers remain operational and electronic transfers are not disrupted by power outages.

The organisation also relies on multiple generators and fuel monitoring systems to maintain continuity of its operations.

NIBSS power bill hits N150 million

Oiwoh, who was represented at the event by Innocent Osagiede, Head of Operations and Finance/CFO Directorate at NIBSS, explained that the organisation’s power costs reflect the need to maintain uninterrupted operations.

• “Specifically, if I mention figures about my company, we spend not less than N150 million per month on power alone. Out of that N150 million, N100 million is on diesel alone,” he said.
• “For us, cost is not the matter, but you cannot be down,” he added.

Osagiede said NIBSS has a 22,000-litre diesel tank in front of its building, while another day tank is located close to its generators.

He said the day tank must not fall below 5,000 litres, with internal security personnel responsible for monitoring the level and switching on the pump from the main tank when the threshold is reached.

Osagiede recounted an incident in which a security officer assumed that the previous shift had already pumped diesel into the day tank and returned to his desk. The generator subsequently went off, and it took about three minutes to resolve the problem.

Why NIBSS cannot afford downtime

Osagiede said the experience demonstrated that the issue goes beyond controlling the cost of diesel to ensuring that NIBSS remains operational.

• NIBSS operates four generators, comprising two 800 KVA units and two 500 KVA units, to support its power requirements.
• NIBSS operates critical payment infrastructure used by banks and other financial institutions, including the Nigeria Central Switch, which provides interconnectivity and interoperability for retail electronic payments in Nigeria.
• The organisation also provides payment and collection solutions including NQR, while its platforms support electronic bulk payments for public and private enterprises.
• Osagiede said a prolonged power interruption could cause servers to begin shutting down, potentially affecting the processing of transfers and other payment activities.

He said monitoring technology provides an additional layer of visibility over generator fuel levels, reducing reliance on manual checks and allowing fuel replenishment before supplies run out. He added that monitoring the quality of diesel supplied to its facilities is also important because poor-quality fuel could affect generator performance.

Businesses seek alternatives to diesel

The high cost of powering business operations is also pushing other organisations to seek ways of making their energy expenditure more predictable, particularly as businesses continue to rely on generators and alternative power sources.

Katherine Itua, Executive Director, Finance & Investments, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Limited, told Nairametrics in an exclusive interview that the insurer has accelerated its shift towards solar power to reduce its dependence on diesel generators.

• “Power is honestly one of those recurring costs we watch very closely,” she said.

Itua said the company’s head office does not operate on the national grid and relies largely on generators and a solar inverter system to keep its operations running.

She said rising fuel costs over the past year prompted the company to accelerate the second phase of its solar inverter upgrade, with the aim of reducing dependence on diesel and bringing greater predictability to its power costs.

She said the company had budgeted diesel at about N2,000 per litre in 2026, compared with the current price of around N1,900, allowing it to manage the increase within its projections.

Itua said the company is also relying on disciplined budgeting and process automation to contain rising operating costs rather than passing the full burden to customers.